LONDON, February 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- - Panel of judges select the winning entry based on the most creative electronic design that will have a positive impact on the environment. - Since its launch in May 2007, over 3,500 design engineers, students and academics from 102 countries have registered for the competition Premier Farnell plc (LSE:pfl), the leading multi-channel, high service distributor supporting millions of engineers and purchasing professionals globally, has announced the winner of the 2007 Live EDGE Electronic Design for the Global Environment challenge as John Noble from Malaysia. John has designed a product called MyFan, a ceiling fan that combines an electronically commutated motor and controller, and aerodynamically efficient blade design that reduces fan input power by up to 66% of that of a traditional ceiling fan. It boasts auxiliary output channels that drive up to 20 watts of integrated LED lighting with up/down lighting modules. The Motor construction is totally enclosed and is available with an IP5x environmental rating. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080201/291801 ) The judges noted that Johns design demonstrated the best originality and innovation of the entered designs, the highest technical merit, a reduced effect on the global environment, provided the best feasibility of design, clearly showed efficient use of energy, provided innovative use of components, good cost optimisation, completeness of design dossier and excellent supporting documentation. "It is a great honour to have my design recognised by such an esteemed panel of judges," said John Noble, winner of Live EDGE 2007 challenge. "Live EDGE has provided design engineers a forum to focus more on the issue of sustainability and not just growth." Also providing excellent designs are the five runner ups; Thomas Reiter a student from Austria designing a unique miniature battery saving switch-mode power supply, Minesh Bhakta from the U.K. designing an energy gauge that helps manage the use of electrical sockets, Carlos Marques from Portugal on behalf of his company ID-Mind, who's design is for a 3D SunTracker optimising the effectiveness of solar panels, Dale Stepps from Florida in the U.S. on behalf of his company Inteltech Corporation for a solid state luminare and Alaistair Macfarlane from Scotland designing a LED intelligent light, all receiving US$5,000 USD. "Our congratulations go out to John, we look forward to working with him to register his design and support him through production into the market, said Harriet Green, CEO of Premier Farnell. "With over 3,500 engineers from over 102 countries involved in this year's Live EDGE challenge, we feel we have really provided an opportunity for environmentally friendly design and look forward to continuing this challenge in the future. We are proud to encourage the design of products that change the lives of at least 3 billion people. We will constantly work towards providing the best service, technology and support to our critically important design engineering customers." About Live EDGE: The winning entrant receives a cash prize of US $50,000 as well as the support to move the design towards production. The support package, estimated to be worth an additional US $50,000, will include the services of an electronic design consultancy that will develop the design to prototype stage, assistance with legal matters and IP registration, marketing and publicity, as well as Premier Farnell's help in securing investment funding. The group hopes to actively market the end product to millions of customers globally through their leading edge Web page, catalogue and direct marketing. More information about the Live EDGE Challenge is available at http://www.live-edge.com/. About Premier Farnell Premier Farnell plc (LSE:pfl) is a leading high service, multi-channel distributor of electronic, maintenance, repair and operation products and specialist services throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. It goes to market with a differentiated value proposition, world-class marketing, a stocked range of 400,000+ products, and access to 4,000,000 more items from 3,000 top manufacturers. The company has group sales of GBP823.1m and 4,100 employees globally. While global in scope, Premier Farnell recognizes the individual needs of each market and has continued to internationalize its model accordingly, trading locally under different brand names. Its primary electronics businesses trade as Farnell in the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Newark in the US, Canada and Mexico, and Premier Electronics in China. In Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Brazil the operation is known as Farnell Newark. For more information visit the website at http://www.premierfarnell.com/ Issued by: Jonathan Roberts, Account Director, Pinnacle Marketing Communications Ltd, Prosperity House, Dawlish Drive, Pinner, Middlesex, HA5 5LN, UK Email: Tel: +44(0)20-8869-9339 Web: http://www.pinnacle-marketing.com/ Contact details for publication and editorial enquiries: Jenny Peters Head of Corporate Communications Premier Farnell plc Tel: +44(0)207-851-4102 Mobile:+44(0)7921740548 Email: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080201/291801DATASOURCE: Premier Farnell CONTACT: Contact details for publication and editorial enquiries: Jenny Peters, Head of Corporate Communications, Premier Farnell plc, Tel: +44(0)207-851-4102, Mobile:+44(0)7921740548, Email:

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